“The decrease in Chinese visitors wasn’t influenced by the timing of the lunar new year only, but also by the negative impact from the Senkaku issue,” said Norifumi Ide, a commissioner in the Japan Tourism Agency. He said he expects the impact to decrease gradually.

By country and region, the largest number of visitors in January came from South Korea at 234,500, up 35.2 percent amid the yen’s depreciation.

The number of visitors from Australia hit a new high of 31,700, up 42.6 percent, thanks to the popularity of skiing tours, while those from Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam also reached new levels for the month.